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The Presidential Nuclear "Football" from Eisenhower to George W. Bush

Washington, D.C., July 18, 2023 – A set of highly secret emergency action plans kept inside the closely guarded “Football” that traveled with the President at all times and that would give the federal government sweeping emergency powers were of “doubtful legality,” “badly out of date,” and “even illegal,” according to top government officials whose views are memorialized in declassified records posted today by the National Security Archive.

The posting also includes excerpts from interviews conducted by William Manchester while researching his book, The Death of a President(New York: Harper and Row, 1967), which shed light on the Football arrangements during the Kennedy administration. Today’s posting also features a gallery of recently released photos from the George W. Bush Presidential Library showing military officers carrying the Football in a variety of situations, including during overseas travel with the President. While future revelations may help clarify Johnson’s reasons for declining the offer, Manchester’s discussion with Maxwell Taylor confirmed that high level military leaders were concerned that he had not received a briefing about the “contents” of the Football before he became President in Dallas on November 22, 1963.

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